Mike's Garden Reviews

Mike's Garden is one of those calm puzzle game where you can take all the time you want to plan and make your move, then rewards you for your dedication. Being a turn-based puzzle, you can stop and take a break at any time. Which on the other hand makes it easy to pick up at any time, as you are not forced into a x-minute session once you get started. Though it has that "one more turn" property so you may find yourself keep wanting to take another move just to get that match anyway. Like most matching games, the game tends to put you in bad situations by seemingly blocking your way intentionally from time to time. It can feel a bit frustrating once you start seeing the pattern, but it's also up to you to weight the risk against the reward, and make placements that minimize the chance of getting your plan ruined by 1 stray block (plant in this case). Overall a relaxing yet challenging puzzle game that you can play at your own pace, with a robust scoring system that can really affect your final result once you try to optimize your play. My only grip is that at later stage of the game, there are so many different plants in the pool and it makes setting up chains or big matches very difficult and risky, to the point that it weakens the aspect of long term planning. Still, the game price is low and there's a demo. No reason not to give it a try if you like any similar matching puzzle games.